


And A Little Cub Shall Lead Them

by tielan



Category: Psy-Changeling - Nalini Singh
Genre: Babysitting, Family, Fluff, Gen, Murder Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 10:10:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2808623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Innocent children. Dangerous men. And the rigours of babysitting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And A Little Cub Shall Lead Them

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hariboo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hariboo/gifts).



> When I picked this up as a pinch-hit, I got torn in several directions regarding what to write. An AU? A slice-of-life? An action/adventure/drama? I went for a little bit of all of the above.
> 
> I imagine this as taking place after Shield of Winter, but before Shards of Hope (the next, as yet unreleased book).

“ _Oh, Judd, baby_ ,” Brenna had laughed this morning when she found out, her delight echoing down the mating bond. “Y _ou_ _ **offered**_ _to babysit the pupcubs_?”

“ _I thought I could consider this practise._ ”

She’d wound a hand around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

He’d been on his way out to the White Zone when he’d been stopped by Ava and Ben. The pup had promptly sat on his boot and grinned up at him, tongue lolling out in a delightful look that Judd wasn’t so sure he hadn’t practised.

“Judd, I just saw Riley – he said you’re on your way up to look after the pupcubs until lunch. I know this is an imposition but Michelle was supposed to be taking Ben this morning, and Harriet’s come down with a bug, and I was going to ask Walker but—”

“Lara.”

His sister-in-law’s pregnancy was giving her headaches that not all her abilities or the abilities of the other healers in the pack could mitigate. Sascha had theorised that the child Lara bore had some kind of Psy abilities that were causing the headaches, although nothing that any of the Psy in the SnowDancer or DarkRiver alliances had been able to try had yet mitigated the pain. In the meantime, Lara spent a good portion of the day being petted, checked in, and looked after by Walker, Marlee, Toby, Sienna, Hawke, Brenna, and anyone in SnowDancer who ‘happened to be passing by’.

Considering Lara was the healer for the entire pack, quite a few people ‘happened to be passing by’ at any given time of day or night.

Judd grinned down at Ben. “I think that I can manage Ben along with the pupcubs, right, Ben?”

In answer, Ben rubbed his muzzle against Judd’s knee, his tail madly beating against the ground.

“You’re my hero,” Ava laughed. “Ben, remember what we talked about, okay?”

Judd had been planning to run to Riley’s, but the addition of Ben required signing out a car. The trip took longer than it would have taken Judd to run just by himself, but he didn’t mind it. Shifted back into his human form and changed into clothing, Ben was chatty and conversational, a good-natured little boy who was one of Marlee’s best friends. Nobody was using the word ‘mated’ yet – not around the kids, anyway, but Brenna seemed to think so, and Hawke agreed.

Even without that, though, Judd liked the little boy who was full of interest, inquisitiveness, and with a touch of mischief to leaven it.

“So, what do you have to remember, Ben?” Judd asked as they drove out of the White Zone.

“That the pupcubs are still babies and I have to play gently because I’m not.” Ben turned from where he had plastered his nose against the car window and grinned at Judd in the rear-vision mirror. “I’m nearly six! That’s almost grown up. And I can help you look after the babies. Mama showed me how with Stella and her baby. Did you know Lara is going to have a baby? It’s growing in her tummy and it’s going to be Marlee’s brother. Or sister. And if I growl at it, it growls back.”

“Have you worked out what it’s saying?”

“Not yet,” Ben said. “But Marlee says Lara’s baby wouldn’t growl because it’s half-Psy. It would telepath – like Marlee.”

“It could do both. Sascha’s daughter Naya does.”

“She’s a leopard. They don’t growl, they purr.” Then Ben frowned. “But Julian and Roman growl at each other when they’re fighting.”

Amused, Judd suggested, “Maybe growling can be both a wolf thing and a leopard thing?”

“I s’pose.”

PupCub House – as it had been cheerfully named by Drew before he dodged his brother’s swipe – was a fair way out from the SnowDancer den, up high, and isolated. Of course ‘isolated’ didn’t mean ‘never got visitors’, given that the owners were a sentinel of DarkRiver and a lieutenant of SnowDancer, and the proud parents of three pupcubs.

They were still ‘pupcubs’ to everyone, at least in collective reference. It was apt, Judd considered as he drove the all-terrain vehicle down the final stretch to the the snow-bound lodge, given both Riley’s stubbornness and Mercy’s strength, that their children should reflect that – two wolf cubs, one leopard kit.

And a great source of amusement to both packs.

As they turned the corner that brought them into view of the lodge, two little yellow-and-black heads turned to look at them from where they were sitting with a lean, sleek leopard that was sprawled in a soft fleece blanket nursing her three cubs.

Ben gave a shout. “Look, Judd! Jules and Roman!”

The leopard twins shifted into human form as Judd climbed the stairs to the porch where the leopard was just tucking one of the kits away in the basket with the other, while the last continued to suckle at her breast. “Ben!” “Judd!” “We came to play with the pupcubs,” “and with Mercy,” “but Mercy is feeding the pupcubs,” “and she said you were coming, Judd,” “but she didn’t say Ben was!”

Judd tilted his head at the nursing leopard and just grinned. “I take it my babysitting duties have increased?”

The leopard nudged the third kit off her, and shifted. “God, Judd, I’m sorry.” She scooped up the kit and carefully tucked it in with the others. “Tammy got called to attend a premature labour. It’s Semele’s first and there’s been complications all through the pregnancy. I thought that since I was feeding the trio and they’d be sleeping—It never occurred to me that you’d be bringing Ben.”

“Ava’s usual babysitter has a sick daughter,” Judd explained. “I got called in for emergency minding. It’s no trouble.”

Mercy grimaced as she pulled on a t-shirt. “Look, I’ll let Riley know to head back up as soon as possible. I wouldn’t do this to you, but Lucas needs me to check this out and Semele—”

“You’re anxious about a packmate and you have duties,” Judd said. “Go, and we’ll be fine. It’s only a couple of hours.”

“I’ll still let Riley know.”

“No objection.” He smiled a little. “But don’t worry yourself.”

* * *

The pupcubs were indeed sleeping quite soundly after their feed; snugly warm in their basket and fleeces.

Judd balanced the need to keep three sleeping babies safe while entertaining three energetic little boys, and set a telekinetic shield around the pupcubs to keep out the cold and protect them from any threats. He spared a thread of telepathic power to monitor their state in the SnowDancer web, so he’d know if they woke up. They were pure Changeling, without a hint of Psy genes in them, but, to his psychic senses a tiny trio of delicate stars that were linked to Riley and Mercy.

Ben, meanwhile, had shed his clothing and shifted to join Jules and Roman in a game of ‘pounce’ in the snow.

Judd paused on the stairs to watch, warm pleasure within him at the way Jules and Roman teamed up against Ben, stalking him through the snow with their tiny tails waving like flags. Unsure of which one to watch, Ben was backing away from both of them, a low growl in his throat before he decided it was better to attack, yapped once, and ran to pounce on the nearest twin.

Over they went through the light, powdery snow, stirring up flurries as they rolled. The air filled with playful snarls and yips and growls, and then a yowl as the second twin decided to join in the melee. Leopard kits and wolf cubs went sprawling, rolling off each other in play, then turning around and pouncing the others all over again.

Judd laughed out loud as one of the twins bit the other’s tail, and the two promptly became a little ball of leopards, batting and kicking and biting.

Then Ben came racing towards him in a flurry of powder, grabbing his trouser leg with a playful growl. And Judd let himself be towed into the snow, let himself join in on being pounced, let himself play.

Play wasn’t something Judd had ever done as a child. Psy children weren’t taught to play, they were taught to to be Silent, to control their gifts. In the case of children like Judd, they were taught to control their gifts through torture and trauma, until they shut themselves up into shells to survive.

He’d never rolled around in the snow with his playmates, or tossed telekinetic snowballs at an opponent, swooping them in at angles no throw could ever duplicate. He’d never teased another child by holding a snowball just out of reach, or caught that child with telekinesis as that child leaped for the snowball.

He’d never had _fun_.

Psy children would have to learn how to play, too, now that Silence had fallen. They’d have to learn new ways of training the gifted young minds – ways that didn’t brutalise them.

Maybe one way would be to start with snowball fights?

Finally, Judd let himself be felled, collapsing into the snow with a purring leopard kit on his chest, as another climbed onto his shoulder, and Ben sprawled on his knee with a yip. A quick telepathic check showed the pupcub trio still sleeping in their basket, although the leopard kit was rousing slightly. He soothed the tiny mind, and lay back in the snow, with the rumbling purr of two leopard kits in his ears.

Then paused as awareness whispered through his head.

_You should not be here._

_I mean them – and you – no harm._

The purring stopped as a figure stepped out of the nearby woods, and Ben let out a growl. Judd eased the twins off him, and grabbed Ben by the scruff of the neck before the pup could launch himself at the most dangerous man in the world.

“This treads close to breaking the trust the Changelings have shown you, Kaleb.”

“If I wished them – or you – harm, I could do it without ever coming here. You know that, and I know that. We – and the Changelings – gain nothing from such pretense.”

There was truth in Kaleb’s words. Still, Judd suggested, “Consider it a courtesy.”

“I will. In future.” Kaleb surveyed the clearing in front of the house. “Play?”

“It teaches them control and appropriateness.”

“But when their control lapses, or they misjudge, the result is not death.”

“No.” And that was the key difference between young Psy and young Changelings. A young Changeling could injure or hurt if they played carelessly; Judd had killed. “But the Psy will have to start somewhere.”

A shimmering explosion of light and colour blurred briefly under Judd’s hand, until there was no longer fur under his fingers but skin.

“He’s got eyes like Sinna’s.”

“Yes,” Judd said, restraining a smile at Ben’s words. “He does. It means he’s dangerous like Sinna.” Beside him, Jules and Roman shifted back to human form, moving over to stand with Judd, their hands on his skin in the instinctive wariness of children faced with something unknown.

“Sinna’s not dangerous,” Ben said, frowning. “Are you dangerous?”

“Yes,” Kaleb replied. “But not to you.”

“To bad people? Judd’s dangerous to bad people.”

Kaleb met Judd’s gaze. “I imagine he is.”

“So don’t be a bad person,” Judd said dryly. “What did you come for, Kaleb?”

A woman stepped out of the forest, her smile easy and bright – as far from a typical Psy as anyone could imagine. “He’s just the packmule, really.”

“Sahara!” A moment later the twins were back in leopard form and sprinting through the snow to leap on her with delighted mews and playful growls.

_And you couldn’t have stayed in the shadows?_

_As noted, I see no reason to maintain the pretense that I can’t find the Changelings at any time of my choosing._

_People – Psy, Changeling, and human alike – do not like to be reminded of their failings._

_But is it their failing?_   Kaleb countered, _Or is it just the way it is?_

Judd climbed to his feet and checked on the pupcubs again, just in case. Ben was regarding Kaleb thoughtfully. “Do you want to play with us? Judd plays with us.”

“So I saw.” Kaleb looked at Judd, and while he didn’t smile, there was an indefineable sense of challenge in the air. “Control and appropriateness?”

“You could do to learn appropriateness,” Judd remarked, and heard Sahara laugh.

* * *

To say Riley wasn’t happy with the situation was an understatement. Although there wasn’t much he could do considering Ben had decided Kaleb was ‘like Sinna and Hawke and Walker, but all of them at once and more scary’.

Ben had a way of putting his finger right on the mark. Although ‘more scary’ somehow didn’t translate to ‘I shouldn’t play ball with him’ in Ben-language.

At least Kaleb was staying away from the pupcubs. There was no guarantee that Riley’s temper would have held if Kaleb had been anywhere near his children. Alliances or not, there were lines, and they were all feeling their way around them.

“He won’t hurt them,” Sahara said quietly to Riley, just within earshot of Judd as she cradled two of the pupcubs.

“He’s the most powerful fucking Psy on the planet,” was Riley’s answer. “I don’t have to like it.”

“No,” Sahara agreed and her voice softened as she looked out to where Kaleb, his hands casually tucked in his trouser pockets, bounced a rubbery red ball off Ben’s nose before letting Jules chase it across the clearing. “But he _is_ playing ball with Ben and the twins.”

There was a pause. Then Riley made a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, he is.”

A few moments later, he came alongside Judd with a sigh. “You’re just lucky my sister loves you.”

Judd grinned then, thinking of Brenna. “As she reminds me every day.”

* * *

Later, Judd had some explaining to do to Hawke.

Although less than he would have if Ben hadn’t suddenly announced that Kaleb didn’t smell icy – he smelled like Sahara.


End file.
